The invention relates to an orthodontic device applicable to the lingual side of teeth of the maxillary arch for applying laterally spreading force to establish a split or a resetting of the mid-palatal suture. The device may also be applied in the treatment of cleft-palate patients, as for example in the lateral positioning of premaxilliary and maxillary fragments.
In the present state of the art, palatal-expansion devices with adjustable clamps are available to apply spreading pressure to teeth of the right and left halves of the maxillary arch. And these devices require frequent resetting by the orthodontist as the suture yields and the halves of the arch progressively displace. The forces are positive and are positively set, giving rise to pain upon each adjustment; after plural adjustment, a total displacement may be in the order of a quarter inch, and as many as ten visits to the orthodontist may be involved in making the requisite progressive adjustments.